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Moomba Outback V - Saltwater Edition

While there is no saltwater edition mine is possibly the only one with a full closed loop (block + manifolds) cooling system fitted.

From the video its probably clear that my boating is in Saltwater, the location is Umm Al Quwainn in the UAE about 50 minutes from my home in Dubai.

There are a handful of other Moomba boats in see regularly, the oldest I know of is a 2008 ish LSV Gravity Edition still running its original engine and transmission after a decade in the salt including a period moored continually in the salt.

There are similar vintage Malibu's, MC's and Nautiques including two dry berthed near my moomba are at least 20 years old and also running original motors and transmission.

I like to keep my boats in good condition so take a keen interest in everyone elses experience of running these boats in our regional conditions - very high temperatures upto 120F, constant very high UV and comparatively high salt content.

Main issues are surface corrosion from people reboarding and dripping through the engine cover/walk across. My simple solution is to keep a big supply of towels on board and insist people board on one side away from the engine cover - so far so good.

The white boat briefly in the background of the video is my former boat now 18 years old and could easily pass for 2 years old.

We sold the New Zealand built Viper VBR 1850 with 135 Johson Ocean Pro outboard as the family grew and spent more time snorkeling, kneeboarding and lately wakesurfing and boarding all of which are orders of magnitude more enjoyable with the consistent torque, wakeshaping and overall space and layout of the Moomba.

Very few saltwater boats on the forum, I did a lot of searching before buying mine, its my first inboard and wanted to be sure what I was getting into.

Across all the major brands there is very little information online on saltwater operation or longevity. The only thing that gave me confidence was the large number of 10 and 20 year old MCs, Malibus, Nautiques and a 2008ish Moomba at my club.

Just got back from a good day on the salt today, 3 short but packed hours on the water of wakeboarding, surfing and the kids making up swimming games around the swim platform.